Police say they have arrested a suspect allegedly connected to multiple online threats that led TikTok to evacuate its headquarters near Los Angeles on Friday.
A press release from the Culver City Police Department says that TikTok employees reported receiving multiple threats, across various social media platforms, from 33-year-old Hawthorne resident Joseph Mayuyo. After an additional message threatened TikTok’s Culver City headquarters, police say company security evacuated the office “out of an abundance of caution.”
Police then investigated Mayuyo’s home, according to the press release. During the investigation, he allegedly posted additional threatening statements, including one declaring that he would not be taken alive. Detectives obtained search and arrest warrants, and they negotiated with Mayuyo for 90 minutes before he voluntarily exited his home and was taken into custody, the police department says.
Business Insider reports that one TikTok employee described the threats as “really scary,” while another was concerned that they seemed to specifically target the e-commerce department.
Mayuyo’s X account has reportedly been suspended for violating the platform’s hateful content policy. A Medium account under his name published a post in July criticizing TikTokShop USA as a “scam.”
TechCrunch has reached out to TikTok for comment. In the press release, the police department praises TikTok’s security team “for their quick action, collaboration, and professionalism throughout this case.”
This arrest comes as TikTok’s U.S. operations are being spun out from Chinese owner ByteDance as a new joint venture with a new board of directors. President Donald Trump, who has been talking and posting about the deal for many months, recently signed an executive order approving the sale.
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